Samenvatting

Within social sciences, ranging from education to psychology, sociology and anthropology, we see theories emerging that are based on the concept that our social world is existentially dialogical. According to Valsiner and Van der Veer (2000), dialogical theories
referring to the work of Hermans (1994, 1995, 1996a; Hermans & Kempen, 1993), Josephs (1998), Marková (1990, 1994) and Wertsch (1991, 1997) are strongly influenced by the theories of literature of the 1920s and 1930s, particularly Mikhail Bakhtin's work. We
welcome the emergence of dialogical theories because they share a tendency to reject the rigidity imposed on us by linguistic dichotomies and thereby can advance our understanding of the social world as essentially fluid and contingent. In this chapter, we examine how dialogical theories can help us reconcile dichotomies. We will argue that dialogical theories do justice to the complex nature of reality, but at the same time seem incapable of fully realising the potential of this ability because of propositional and linguistic characterization in research practice. By making this point we intend to raise awareness of this phenomenon, and question how to deal with this issue in dialogical science.